Monday, 4 December 2006
Puma Logic Finish Fifth in Winter Series
Sadly racing was cancelled yesterday which resulted in Puma not being able to guarantee finishing on the podium of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series. Overnight the wind was gusting up to sixty knots on Bramble Bank. Despite the forecasted lull at 07:00 it became very clear that it would not last long. Therefore, the race officers took the prudent decision to cancel the last days racing. As it happens the wind soon built to fifty knots in the Solent, so a good decision was made.
Unfortunately for the team of Puma this meant they were forced to discard two races which they had not sailed, holding them in a very respectable 5th place. The hopes of the team then relied upon the outcome of the request for redress from the previous week. If successful Puma would almost certainly be elevated back to a podium position.
Sunday was not Puma’s day. The hearing went against Puma and redress was denied. The chief race officer commented to skipper, Philippe Falle, ‘it will be close, very close.’ The protest committee on this occasion ruled in favour of t race committee.
The team of Puma sailed a fantastic series and can be justifiably proud of their results. Philippe comments ‘finishing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in four of the races at this level is outstanding. We have had an awesome few weekends of racing and Puma has been sailing so well. It is a real shame that the overall result did not entirely reflect the performance of Puma. However, a good series is based on consistency and I guess that for reasons possibly beyond our control we were not quite consistent enough. It has been our best Winter Series yet though and I am really pleased with the way the team has developed and progressed.’
The 2006 season has now drawn to a close. The boats are coming out of the water for their annual re-fit this week. The season will start again next year in March with the Warsash Spring Series.
Sadly racing was cancelled yesterday which resulted in Puma not being able to guarantee finishing on the podium of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series. Overnight the wind was gusting up to sixty knots on Bramble Bank. Despite the forecasted lull at 07:00 it became very clear that it would not last long. Therefore, the race officers took the prudent decision to cancel the last days racing. As it happens the wind soon built to fifty knots in the Solent, so a good decision was made.
Unfortunately for the team of Puma this meant they were forced to discard two races which they had not sailed, holding them in a very respectable 5th place. The hopes of the team then relied upon the outcome of the request for redress from the previous week. If successful Puma would almost certainly be elevated back to a podium position.
Sunday was not Puma’s day. The hearing went against Puma and redress was denied. The chief race officer commented to skipper, Philippe Falle, ‘it will be close, very close.’ The protest committee on this occasion ruled in favour of t race committee.
The team of Puma sailed a fantastic series and can be justifiably proud of their results. Philippe comments ‘finishing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in four of the races at this level is outstanding. We have had an awesome few weekends of racing and Puma has been sailing so well. It is a real shame that the overall result did not entirely reflect the performance of Puma. However, a good series is based on consistency and I guess that for reasons possibly beyond our control we were not quite consistent enough. It has been our best Winter Series yet though and I am really pleased with the way the team has developed and progressed.’
The 2006 season has now drawn to a close. The boats are coming out of the water for their annual re-fit this week. The season will start again next year in March with the Warsash Spring Series.
posted by Sailing Logic at 12:45 PM 0 comments
